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Thursday, August 30, 2018

The Group of Twenty (G20) Ministers of Agriculture Meeting was
recently supported by the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD), to increase the sustainable production of nutritious foods,
reports NaijaAgroNet.

President, IFAD, Gilbert
F. Houngbo, said that sustainably feeding a growing population will take
collective action and IFAD stands ready to partner with the G20 to achieve this.

Also, Houngbo said “With small family farms supplying up to
80 per cent of the food produced in developing countries, it has never been
more critical to invest in these farmers, providing the tools for them to
better manage their land and ensure the health and productivity of their soil
in the face of a changing climate.”

While the main theme of the meeting is sustainable soil
management, the group will also discuss a proposal by Argentina to boost rural
youth employment through access to technology and engagement with the private
sector through global events.

A study by IFAD and the World Bank for the G20 Agriculture
Ministers’ Meeting last year describes how, with youth abandoning rural areas
because of lack of decent employment opportunities, the future of agriculture
is at stake.

"At IFAD we believe young people today – the largest
population the world as ever seen – are central to our work in transforming
rural communities and eradicating poverty and hunger,” said Houngbo. “If we are
to foster a generation of ‘agripreneurs’ we must answer their call for better
access to the resources they need to grow our rural areas into vibrant places
that can feed generations to come.”

Since he took office last year, IFAD has prioritized
youth-centric development across all of its programmes and projects to provide
training and support to create rural employment and enterprise options that are
appropriate for young people, in both the farm and the non-farm sector.

Another important focus of the Agriculture Ministers’
Meeting is the G20's contribution to reduce the estimated one third of all food
that is lost or wasted.

"Food loss and waste constitute is a luxury humanity
cannot afford. I salute the G20's efforts to tackle this problem," Houngbo
said. "IFAD supports small-scale farmers to improve their ability to
process and store their crops thereby minimizing food loss. IFAD stands ready
to offer its expertise to help mitigate this phenomenon.”